The New York Yankees met up with the Tampa Bay Rays tonight under the veil of finding out their third base coach, Phil Nevin, had tested positive for Covid 19 and four other coaches being suspect and quarantined. The game featured the Yankees’ Jordan Montgomery against the Ray’s Luis Patino. The Yankees before this outing were 1 in 5 against the Tampa Bay Rays.
DJ LeMahieu led off against Patino by grounding out. Giancarlo Stanton flew out to the roof of Tropicana Field. Aaron Judge then hit a home run to center field. Gio Urshela just off the day-to-day singled to the middle. Luke Voit off of the IL and in his first bat of the season struck out swinging, but the Yankees scored first with the lazer off center by Aaron Judge. At the bottom, Randy Arozarena led off for the Rays against Montgomery, and he flew out to left. Manuel Margot lined out to short. Auston Meadows went down swinging for a 1-2-3 inning for Montgomery. New York Yankees 1 Rays 0.
The top of the second saw Gleyber Torres fly out to center field. Gary Sanchez struck out swinging. Clint Frazier flew out to the left-field foul territory. At the bottom of the inning, Yandy Diaz was at the plate, and he flew out to the infield. Mike Brosseau went down swinging. Padlo also went down swinging for the second inning in a row that Montgomery has put down all three Rays.1-0 Yankees.
Brett Gardner started the top of the third by chopping to second. LeMahieu got a one-out single to the middle. Stanton walked. The Yankee’s runners moved up on a passed ball. Another passed ball scored LeMahieu. Judge lined out. Gio Urshela lined out to second. Yankees 2 Rays 0. At the bottom of the third, Mike Zunino hit a home run (471′), drawing the Rays closer to the Yankees. Willie Adames struck out swinging. Brett Phillips went down on strikes. Arozarena struck out for his sixth strikeout of the game. Yankees 2 the Rays 1.
Luke Voit started the fourth he was hit by a pitch and advanced to first base. Gleyber Torres went down on strikes. Sanchez hit into a double play to end the half. At the bottom, Manuel Magot led off by doubling to left field. Meadows struck out for Monty’s seventh in the game. Diaz walked. Brosseau struck out for strikeout number eight for Montgomery. Padlo lined out to Urshela to end the inning. New York Yankees 2 Rays 1.
Clint Frazier started the fifth by chopping out to third. Brett Gardner ground out to short. Lemahieu flew out to right field. Mike Zunino led off the bottom by flying out to Brett Gardner in left field. Adames struck out for Montgomery’s ninth and career-high strikeout. Phillips ground out for another 1-2-3 inning for Montgomery. Yankees 2 Rays 1.
The sixth inning started with Giancarlo Stanton lined out to third. Aaron Judge ground out to the middle. Urshela ground out to the pitcher Fleming to end the half. At the bottom, it was the top of the lineup for the Rays. Arozarena flew out to Frazier in left. Margot lined out to Gardner in center. Meadows flew out to left. Montgomery put down the last eight Rays in a row. Yankees 2 Rays 1.
The top of the seventh saw Luke Voit fly out to the right-field wall. Torres struck out looking. Gary Sanchez hit his fourth home run of the year to right-center. Clint Frazier walked. Brett Gardner was hit by a pitch for the second Yankees to be hit by a pitch. Gardner advance to first moving up Frazier. LeMahieu ground out to third, but the Yankees gain another run. At the bottom, Diaz led off against Jonathan Loaisiga and ground out to first. Joey Wendle for Brosseau ground out to Urshela at third. Brendon Lowe for Padlo walked. Lowe advanced on a passed ball by Sanchez. Zunino struck out to end the inning. Yankees 3 Rays 0.
Giancarlo Stanton led off the eighth inning by doubling down the left-field line. Aaron Judge hit a single up the middle moving Stanton to third. Urshela, with men on the corners, singled, but Stanton was called out at the plate. With men on first and second, Luke Voit hit into the double play to end the half. At the bottom, with Loaisiga still on the mound, Adames flew out to Judge in right field. Phillips hit a single to left. Arozarena hit into the force for the second out. Margot ground out to third for two shutout innings for Loaisiga. New York Yankees 3 Rays 1.
At the top of the ninth facing Hunter Strickland, Torres stuck out. Gary Sanchez went down on strikes for the second out. Clint Frazier got himself a two-out double to the centerfield wall. Brett Gardner ground out to second to end the half. Out to close the game for the Yankees was Aroldis Chapman; he faced Austin Meadows for the last licks on the line for the Rays in the bottom of the ninth. Meadows reached on a Torres boot of the ball for an E6. Diaz got a passed ball, but Sanchez refiled it to second gunning down Meadows on a call that was upheld on the review. Diaz walked. Kevin Smith hit to shortstop Torres for the second out. Brendon Lowe, with two outs, struck out for Chapman’s eight out of eight saves.
The final score was the New York Yankees 3 and the Tampa Bay Rays 1. The winning pitcher was Jordan Mongomery, and the loser was Luis Patino, with Aroldis Chapman getting the save.